Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
There Are Many Publications In The U.S. On The Harms from Shale Gas
Numerous scientific publications of U.S. sources over the harms from shale gas production existed, the Chairperson of the Civil Initiative for a Ban on Shale Gas Exploration and Production Mariana Hristova stated.
For NY Farmers, Fracking Means Salvation — Or Ruin
Siobhan Griffin, who raises grass-fed cows in Westville, N.Y. and sells organic cheese, doesn’t see gas as the answer. Rather, she fears for her cows if drilling comes to neighboring leased land. She points to Pennsylvania, where 28 cows were quarantined from sale after they drank wastewater, and Louisiana, where 17 cows died after drinking contaminated water.
Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly referred to as “fracking,” ought to be a pretty cut-and-dried issue for most people.
Fracking And The Rural Dilemma
“Money poisons you when you’ve got it,” British author D.H. Lawrence writes in his 1928 novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” “and starves you when you haven’t.” There may be no better quote to describe the tension in public debates over the controversial method of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” for extracting natural gas from shale deposits. And when it comes to the pull of the financial salvation for landowners on the brink of ruin, recent developments in North Carolina have left me with a hearty dose of déjà vu.
BP OIL SPILL:
BP Oil Claims for Texas Restaurants in Galveston, Chambers, Jefferson & Orange Counties
A little over two years ago a BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and the outcome was the largest oil spill ever in America. One of the industries hardest hit was the restaurant industry and the food service industry.
With Shortcomings, BP Settlement Agreement is a Step in the Right Direction
The April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting gulf oil disaster devastated communities along the Gulf Coast and financially impacted the lives of individuals and businesses on an unprecedented scale for an oil-related incident.
Feds Invest In Deepwater Drilling Tech
The Department of Energy has selected 13 projects to enhance the environmental safety of deepwater drilling projects, particularly by improving the cement casing process that investigators cited as a cause of BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
Tulane Gets $18.7M for Environmental Health
Tulane University is getting $18.7 million for two multiyear environmental health projects designed to help Gulf Coast residents affected by the 2010 BP oil spill.
RADIATION:
Fukushima Farmers Decontaminate Soil, Plant Rice, Praying for Radiation-Free Harvest
Last year’s crop sits in storage, deemed unsafe to eat, but Toraaki Ogata is back at his rice paddies, driving his tractor trailing neat rows of seedlings. He’s living up to his family’s proud, six-generation history of rice farming, and praying that this time his harvest will not have too much radiation to sell.
